The Way to God and How to Find It, Dwight L. Moody [i read book .txt] 📗

occasions the little thing took the old man by the hand, and, leading him to a corner of the room, without saying a word she pointed to the floor where she had arranged some small crackers so they would spell out, “Grandpa, I want a box of paints.” He said nothing. On his return home he hung up his overcoat and went to the room as usual: when his little grandchild, without looking to see if her wish had been complied with, took him into the same corner, where he saw spelled out in the same way, “Grandpa, I thank you for the box of paints.” The old man would not have missed gratifying the child for anything. That was faith.

Faith is taking God at His Word; and those people who want some token are always getting into trouble. We want to come to this: God says it—let us believe it.

But some say, Faith is the gift of God. So is the air; but you have to breathe it. So is bread; but you have to eat it. So is water; but you have to drink it. Some are wanting a miraculous kind of feeling. That is not faith. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God”  (Rom. x. 17). That is whence faith comes. It is not for me to sit down and wait for faith to come stealing over me with a strange sensation; but it is for me to take God at His Word. And you cannot believe, unless you have something to believe. So take the Word as it is written, and appropriate it, and lay hold of it.

In John vi. 47, 48 we read: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life. I am that Bread of life.” There is the bread right at hand. Partake of it. I might have thousands of loaves within my home, and as many hungry men in waiting. They might assent to the fact that the bread was there; but unless they each took a loaf and commenced eating, their hunger would not be satisfied. So Christ is the Bread of heaven; and as the body feeds on natural food, so the soul must feed on Christ.

If a drowning man sees a rope thrown out to rescue him he must lay hold of it; and in order to do so he must let go everything else. If a man is sick he must take the medicine—for simply looking at it will not cure him. A knowledge of Christ will not help the inquirer, unless he believes in Him, and takes hold of Him, as his only hope. The bitten Israelites might have believed that the serpent was lifted up; but unless they had looked they would not have lived  (Num. xxi. 6-9).

I believe that a certain line of steamers will convey me across the ocean, because I have tried it: but this will not help another man who may want to go, unless he acts upon my knowledge. So a knowledge of Christ does not help us unless we act upon it. That is what it is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is to act on what we believe. As a man steps on board a steamer to cross the Atlantic, so we must take Christ and make a commitment of our souls to Him; and He has promised to keep all who put their trust in Him. To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, is simply to take Him at His word.

CHAPTER IV.

WORDS OF COUNSEL.

“A bruised reed shall He not break.”—Isaiah xlii. 3; Matt. xii. 20.

It is dangerous for those who are seeking salvation to lean upon the experience of other people. Many are waiting for a repetition of the experience of their grandfather or grandmother. I had a friend who was converted in a field; and he thinks the whole town ought to go down into that meadow and be converted. Another was converted under a bridge; and he thinks that if any enquirer were to go there he would find the Lord. The best thing for the anxious is to go right to the Word of God. If there are any persons in the world to whom the Word ought to be very precious it is those who are asking how to be saved.

For instance a man may say, “I have no strength.” Let him turn to Romans v. 6. “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” It is because we have no strength that we need Christ. He has come to give strength to the weak.

Another may say, “I cannot see.” Christ says, “I am the Light of the world”  (John viii. 12). He came, not only to give light, but “to open the blind eyes”  (Isa. xlii. 7).

Another may say, “I do not think a man can be saved all at once.” A person holding that view was in the Enquiry-room one night; and I drew his attention to Romans vi. 23. “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” How long does it take to accept a gift? There must be a moment when you have it not, and another when you have it—a moment when it is another’s, and the next when it is yours. It does not take six months to get eternal life. It may however in some cases be like the mustard seed, very small at the commencement. Some people are converted so gradually that, like the morning light, it is impossible to tell when the dawn began; while, with others, it is like the flashing of a meteor, and the truth bursts upon them suddenly.

I would not go across the street to prove when I was converted; but what is important is for me to know that I really have been.

It may be that a child has been so carefully trained that it is impossible to tell when the new birth began; but there must have been a moment when the change took place, and when he became a partaker of the Divine nature.

Some people do not believe in sudden conversion. But I will challenge any one to show a conversion in the New Testament that was not instantaneous. “As Jesus passed by He saw Levi, the son of Alpheus, sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, ‘Follow Me’: and he arose and followed Him”  (Matt. ix. 9). Nothing could be more sudden than that.

Zaccheus, the publican, sought to see Jesus; and because he was little of stature he climbed up a tree. When Jesus came to the place He looked up and saw him, and said, “Zaccheus, make haste, and come down”  (Luke xix. 5). His conversion must have taken place somewhere between the branch and the ground. We are told that he received Jesus joyfully, and said, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold”  (Luke xix. 8). Very few in these days could say that in proof of their conversion.

The whole house of Cornelius was converted suddenly; for so Peter preached Christ to him and his company the Holy Ghost fell on them, and they were baptized.  (Acts x.)

On the day of Pentecost three thousand gladly received the Word. They were not only converted, but they were baptized the same day.  (Acts ii.)

And when Philip talked to the eunuch, as they went on their way, the eunuch said to Philip, “See, here is water: what doth hinder me to be baptized?” Nothing hindered. And Philip said, “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.” And they both went down into the water; and the man of great authority under Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, was baptized, and went on his way rejoicing.  (Acts viii. 26-38.) You will find all through Scripture that conversions were sudden and instantaneous.

A man has been in the habit of stealing money from his employer. Suppose he has taken $1,000 in twelve months; should we tell him to take $500 the next year, and less the next year, and the next, until in five years the sum taken would be only $50? That would be upon the same principle as gradual conversion.

If such a person were brought before the court and pardoned, because he could not change his mode of life all at once, it would be considered a very strange proceeding.

But the Bible says, “Let him that stole steal no more”  (Eph. iv. 28). It is “right about face!” Suppose a person is in the habit of cursing one hundred times a day: should we advise him not to utter more than ninety oaths the following day, and eighty the next day; so that in the course of time he would get rid of the habit? The Saviour says, “Swear not at all.”  (Matt. v. 34.)

Suppose another man is in the habit of getting drunk and beating his wife twice a month; if he only did so once a month, and then only once in six months, that would be, upon the same ground, as reasonable as gradual conversion. Suppose Ananias had been sent to Paul, when he was on his way to Damascus breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples, and casting them into prison, to tell him not to kill so many as he intended; and to let enmity die out of his heart gradually, but not all at once. Suppose he had been told that it would not do to stop breathing out threatenings and slaughter, and to commence preaching Christ all at once, because the philosophers would say that the change was so sudden it would not hold out; this would be the same kind of reasoning as is used by those who do not believe in instantaneous conversion.

Then another class say that they are afraid that they will not hold out. This is a numerous and very hopeful class. I like to see a man distrust himself. It is a good thing to get such to look to God, and to remember that it is not he who holds God, but that it is God who holds him. Some want to get hold of Christ; but the thing is to get Christ to take hold of you in answer to prayer. Let such read Psalm cxxi.; “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper; the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in, from this time forth, and even for evermore.”

Some one calls that the traveler’s psalm. It is a beautiful psalm for those of us who are pilgrims through this world; and one with which we should be well acquainted.

God can do what He has done before. He kept Joseph in Egypt; Moses before Pharaoh; Daniel in Babylon; and enabled Elijah to stand before Ahab in that dark day. And I am so thankful that these I have mentioned were men of like passions with ourselves. It was God who made them so great. What man wants is to look to God. Real true faith is man’s weakness leaning on